"Linsanity", a documentary based on the life of Jeremy Lin, opens Friday. / Bob DeChiara, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

HOUSTON - Anyone who remembers the two weeks of "Linsanity" in 2012 might think back fondly to the buzz generated by the first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA.

But there were moments that weren't so comfortable for Jeremy Lin, the Houston Rockets point guard who rose to fame with the New York Knicks in a way we'd never before seen. His play, his background and his story sparked a meaningful discussion that continues still, one about racial bias in a basketball world of which Lin is now such a significant part.

The news media and fans alike were forced to acknowledge stereotypes - the jokes about his court vision, quick asides about his counter-intuitive driving ability and the "chink in the armor" uses on ESPN that led to the firing of an editor and the suspending of an anchor.

It's all chronicled in Linsanity, a documentary that opens in theaters nationwide Friday and takes the race issue that Lin has dealt with since his high school days in Palo Alto, Calif., head on.

Lest anyone think the film is nothing more than a cash-grab conjured up after "Linsanity" died down, it should be noted that the footage and interviews began long before the Madison Square Garden madness began. There was the San Francisco Bay Area childhood where his immigrant parents always supported his basketball interests, his high school years, the Harvard chapter and the NBA roller coaster in which he went undrafted, made two trips to the NBA Development League and was cut twice (by the Golden State Warriors and Rockets) before captivating the masses with the Knicks.

Lin, who is so often reserved or rehearsed with the media, is as candid as can be throughout.

There is a scene of Lin, while talking with a group of kids at a basketball camp after "Linsanity" had died down, saying he wanted to quit the game while he was with the Warriors. Amid rumblings that their decision to sign the undrafted point guard had more to do with marketing than it did his talent, Lin was discouraged. He played 33 minutes the entire month of December 2010.

"On Dec. 29, I wrote about how I actually wish I never signed with the Warriors," he tells the children. "'I wish I could quit basketball (he wrote),' because I wasn't having fun."

As it pertains to the race issue that was pushed to the forefront during his ascent, Lin - who won a Division II California State title with Palo Alto High and was Northern California's player of the year yet received no scholarship offers - says in the film, "Yeah, I have always said if I was black I would have got a D-I scholarship, but that's my personal opinion." He recounts the racist taunts that were hurled his way by fans during AAU games and later during Ivy League play, insults that he's so glad are no longer a significant part of his story.

"I don't really experience anything from the players' standpoint (in the NBA), like, 'Oh, he's Asian,' or whatever," he said. "But I think you kind of have to (play well in the league) a little longer to really get other people to believe that you can do it."